The present invention relates to a remote controller for a television having a function of measuring a body fat and a television receiver where the body fat of a user can be measured with the use of a remote controller provided for selecting a desired channel of the existing television broadcasting service or the video recording system.
In general, body fat meters have been known for measuring the rate or amount of body fat of a human body through feeding a small current across the body. Such body fat meters are commonly designed for measuring the impedance across the body of a user to be examined by a four-electrodes method and calculating the rate or amount of body fat of the user from a measurement of the impedance and the physical data including the weight, the height, the sex, and the age of the user. The body fat meters are classified into one type of measurement with the electrodes gripped directly by the hands of the user and another type of measurement with the electrodes on which the feet of the user are directly placed.
Most of the conventional body fat meters are commercially available as single-purpose products and some may be installed in bathroom scales or bathtubs. However, there are no such body fat meter equipped household appliances which are daily used and ready to hand.
A particular type of television receivers is also known which can be used as a lighting appliance when its CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) is controlled to illuminate in a single color by a remote controller provided for switching on and off the television receiver, selecting a desired channel of the TV broadcasting service, and controlling the audio and video settings (as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-94898). Alternatively, a CATV (Cable Television) receiver with a remote controller for automatically determining the code of an electric appliance currently connected is known where the maker code of an electric appliance such as a VTR (Video Tape Recorder) to be connected is judged from the blue back signal, white back signal, and black burst signal which are received from the video output of the VTR (as disclosed, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 7-131775).
Also known is a health management system arranged where the weight and the body fat of a user are measured by its measuring unit and their measurements are transferred in the form of an infrared ray signal to its display unit for display (as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2000-171288). A similar type of television receiver is provided where a recipe of cooking and its food materials are registered using its remote controller and their calories are calculated in its microcomputer and then displayed on its CRT screen (as disclosed, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 7-59022). A human body electric impedance meter is provided which has a microcomputer arranged in one-chip IC (Integrated Circuit) form for conducting various functions including the measurement of the impedance across a human body (as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-212098).
Another human body electric impedance meter is known which is minimized in the adverse effect of breathing and pulses (as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 10-14898). A body fat meter is provided which is less susceptible to variations in the impedance when the measurement electrodes are in direct contact with the human body (as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 11-113873). A further human body impedance meter is provided which is minimized in the adverse effect of environmental conditions including the temperature (as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-410).
However, as most of the conventional body fat meters are commercially available as single-purpose products, they are rarely combined with common household appliances which are daily used and ready to hand. Some may be installed in bathroom scales or bathtubs which are not handy and thus unfavorable for easily measuring the body fat of a user when desired. It is rather necessary for measuring the body fat of any user when desired to purchase a body fat meter of the single-purpose type. Accordingly, this will force the user to increase the expenditure.
For compensation, a scheme has been developed that the function of measuring the body fat of a user is installed in a common remote controller for a television receiver which is always ready to hand at every home. However, such a common remote controller has a microcomputer arranged of substantially a 4-bit, 1 Kbyte ROM which is too small to conduct all the functions of measuring the impedance across the body of a user, calculating the body fat of the user from a measurement of the impedance, and displaying a calculation of the body fat. When the microcomputer of the remote controller is desired for conducting all the functions, it has to be implemented by at least an 8-bit, 4 Kbyte ROM which is off course expensive.
The foregoing drawback will hardly be eliminated by the teaching of the prior art disclosed in the publication No. 2001-94898 or No. HEI 7-131775. Equally, each of the prior arts disclosed in the publication Nos. 2000-171288, HEI 7-59022, 2001-212098, HEI 10-14898, HEI 11-113873, and 2001-410 fails to eliminate the foregoing drawback.